Displaying items by tag: Production
Sweden: HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Cementa has completed a feasibility study into electrifying its cement plant at Slite in Gotland as part of its Cemzero project. A report from the first phase of the project has been submitted to the Swedish Energy Agency.
The study found that using electricity to supply heat during the clinker production process is possible using plasma technology, although this needs to be tested on a larger scale. Using an electrified process was found to be competitive compared to other options for achieving high reductions in carbon emission. The production cost of cement would be doubled approximately but the research suggested that this might only mean a small percentage increase to the end cost of a building or an infrastructure project. Finally, the study reported that any future electrification of the Slite plant would work well with a planned expansion to wind turbine generation at the site. It would improve the energy balance and reduce the maximum power surplus that might occur.
Cementa and energy company Vatenfall will now look at how to build a pilot plant.
Ukrainian cement production falls slightly to 8.93Mt in 2018
25 January 2019Ukraine: Data from the State Statistics Service shows that Ukrainian cement production fell slightly, by 1% year-on-year, to 8.93Mt in 2018 from 9.3Mt in 2017. In December 2018 production fell by 19.9% year-on-year to 0.35Mt, according to the Ukrainian News Agency. The country has 15 companies producing cement with a combined production capacity of over 20Mt/yr.
Ghacem aiming for 3Mt production target in 2019
24 January 2019Ghana: Morten Gade, the managing director of Ghacem, says that the company plans to make 3Mt of cement in 2019. It also has a target of producing and distributing 60 million bags compared to 56 million bags, according to the Daily Graphic newspaper. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement operates two grinding plants in the country.
Saudi Arabian cement production drops by 10.5% to 42.1Mt in 2018
14 January 2019Saudi Arabia: Data from Yamama Cement shows that national cement production fell by 10.5% year-on-year to 42.1Mt in 2018 from 47.1Mt in 2017. Cement production fell at the majority of local producers with the notable exceptions of Saudi Cement, Southern Cement and others. Clinker production dropped by 3% to 48.3Mt from 49.9Mt. Local deliveries of cement decreased by 13% to 41Mt from 47.1Mt. However, exports of cement rose to 1.1Mt from 0.16Mt and exports of clinker increased to 3.2Mt from no exports in 2017.
Azerbaijan produces over 3.2Mt of cement so far in 2018
19 December 2018Azerbaijan: The State Statistics Committee says that the country produced more than 3.2Mt/yr of cement in the first nine months of 2018. The record figure is a rise of 21.2% year-on-year from the same period in 2017, according to the Turan Information Agency. The production growth has been attributed to protectionist policies by the local government including introducing tariffs on cement imports. These duties were started in 2016 and will run until 2020.
South Khorasan province in Iran produces 0.77Mt in first nine months
19 December 2018Iran: Dawood Shahrakyh, the head of the South Khorasan Industry, Mining and Trade Organization, says that the two cement plants in South Khorasan province have produced 0.77Mt of cement in the first nine months of Iranian year that started on 20 March 2018. This represents a rise of 22% year-on-year since the same period in the previous year, according to the SHATA news agency. 0.45Mt of local production was exported. The province lies on the country’s border with Afghanistan.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Provision data from the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) shows that local cement production grew by 24% year-on-year to 531,000t for the first half of 2018 from 428,000t in the same period in 2017. Consumption grew by 43% to 539,000t from 378,000t. The country currently has a cement import ban in place and no exports have been recorded by the BCC since mid-2015.
Iranian cement exports rise by 7% to 3.8Mt
29 November 2018Iran: Cement exports rose by 7% year-on-year to 3.8Mt in the first seven months of the current local calendar year , which started on 21 March 2018. Abdul Reza Sheikhan, the secretary of the Cement Industry Association, added that clinker exports grew by 13.6% to 3.8Mt, according to ISNA. However international sanctions and increasing shipping costs have reduced exports in the most recent reporting month. Overall, clinker production by the local industry grew by 2.4% to 37.3Mt.
Cementa reporting supply problems with Bascement product
28 November 2018Sweden: Cementa says it is has supply problems delivering its Bascement product. The delivery issues have been caused by frequent power cuts to its Slite plant, weather-related delays to its shipping schedule and high cement demand. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement said that it was keeping its customers regularly updated.
Uzbek cement production drop blamed on energy prices
16 November 2018Uzbekistan: Cement production has fallen by 4.7% year-on-year to 5.6Mt in the first nine months of 2018 from 5.9Mt in the same period in 2017. The decline has been blamed on rising gas and electricity prices, according to the Trend News Agency. Energy prices have risen by at least 60% so far in 2018. 4.5Mt of production, or over 80%, was sold through the Uzbek Commodity Exchange.